Headquarters redevelopment In 2013, the Housing Authority announced that it would put its headquarters building in the rapidly gentrifying
NoMa neighborhood up for redevelopment. The redevelopment plans drew controversy as they originally only planned to require 70 units of deeply affordable housing on site and upon revision, the plans included 244 housing units reserved for moderate incomes rather than being deeply affordable. These 244 would be out of 1,200 market rate units the developer would be able to produce on site. After significant criticism from activists and at-large Council member
Elissa Silverman, the Housing Authority agreed to request at least half of the 244 units be available to be deeply affordable, albeit that request was not legally binding. The debate was framed by arguments that the Housing Authority was not serving its purpose housing the poorest residents of the District, but rather amplifying the effects of gentrification on the District.
Rent overpayments An investigation by
The Washington Post in 2023 found that DCHA overpaid rents to landlords by millions of dollars. DCHA pays for the rent of 15,000 low-income households each year. Regulations require the Housing Authority to make sure that rents it pays for are market rate, but the investigation found that it failed to do so. ==Conventionally-owned public housing developments==